Taniguchi et al.

Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Psychological and Behavioral Effects of Travel Feedback Program
for Travel Behavioral Modificationby

Ayako TANIGUCHI
Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering,
Hokkaido University& Hokkaido Development Engineering Center
11, South 1, East 2, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0051
Japan
tel: +81-11-271-3028
fax: 11-271-5366e-mail: taniguchi@decnet.or.jp
andFumihiro HARA1, Shin'ei TAKANO2,Sei'ichi KAGAYA3, Satoshi FUJII4
1

Hokkaido Development Engineering Center
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University
3
Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University
4
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
2

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Taniguchi et al.

Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Psychological and Behavioral Effects of Travel Feedback Program
for Travel Behavioral Modificationby
Ayako TANIGUCHI
Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering,
Hokkaido University, JapanandFumihiro HARA1, Shin'ei TAKANO2, Sei'ichi KAGAYA3, Satoshi FUJII4

Abstract
This study investigated the effects of the Travel Feedback Program (TFP) on travel behaviors
and psychological factors that may influence automobile use. TFP was proposed by
Taniguchi et al. (2000) as a method of modifying travel behavior with automobile into thatwithout automobile. In TFP, as in the Travel Blending Program (Ampt and Rooney, 1999)
and Travel Smart (Department of Transport, Western Australia), participants were requested
to report their activity-travel behavior, after which they received feedback on that behavior
including information of the amount of CO2 emission resulting from the behavior, andcomments or suggestions from the program coordinators on how to reduce automobile use.
The behavioral and psychological effects produced by TFP were theoretically investigatedbased on Norm Activation Theory (Schwarz, 1977), which describes psychological process ofaltruistic behavior proposed in Social Psychology. Based on the theory that automobile-use
reduction or pro-environmental behavior is influenced by behavioral intention to reduce
automobile use, we hypothesized that behavioral intention is in turn influenced by moral
obligation, and moral obligation is in turn influenced by awareness of the negativeenvironmental consequences of automobile use. The psychological and behavioral data
confirmed the set of hypotheses of causal relations, and the data indicated that TFP has asignificant positive effect on pro-environmental behavior even one year after participation in
TFP.

Key words: behavioral modification processes, travel demand management (TDM), Travel
Feedback Program (TFP), Norm Activation Theory, social psychological effects2

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Introduction
Toward easing traffic congestion in urban areas, transport policy makers who have tried to
implement travel demand management (TDM) have focused on changing the transportation
service level, for the purpose of travel behavior modification. TDM includes legal
regulation of road pricing and traffic restrictions, installation of park-and-ride schemes, andthe reduction of transportation fees. Fujii et al. call these "structural strategies" forbehavioral modification, because they change the environment of travel behavior, e.g., theservice levels of various travel modes or the system for regulating travel behaviors1). Thoseauthors identified another type of strategy for behavioral modification, called "psychologicaland behavioral strategy," which works on individual psychological factors or awareness toencourage voluntary travel behavior change. Psychological and behavioral strategy includes
the provision of specific information on public transport, travel campaigns, and travel
education1). One such strategy is a feedback program for behavioral modification in which
participants report their travel behavior to the program coordinator, and the processed report
data including number of trips for each traffic mode and amount of CO2 emissions resulting
from the trips are fed back to the participants with hints or suggestions on behavioral
modification. Such programs include the Travel Smart2) and Travel Blending3) programs inAustralia, and the Travel Feedback Program (TFP) 5), 6), 7), 8), which the authors havedeveloped and implemented in Sapporo, Japan.
Although the effects of behavioral feedback strategies on travel behavior have been
examined2),3), 5), 6), 7), 8), their effects on psychological factors, including attitude towardvarious travel modes and moral obligation to desist from automobile use, have not yet been
well examined. This study reports the procedure and effects of TFP immediately after its
implementation in greater Sapporo in 2000. We analyzed how TFP has affected program
participants’ psychological factors as well as their travel behavior. The analysis was basedon Norm Activation Theory10), which has been applied to describe psychological processes
that induce pro-environmental behavior9). Toward verifying the persistence of TFP effects,
the behavioral psychology data collected in 2001, one year after TFP implementation, wereanalyzed.

Figure 1.


1. Outline of TFP in Sapporo
Figure 1 shows the flow of TFP, which was implemented from August to December 2000
with 599 participants in 219 households. The sample groups consisted of residents of two
communities and an elementary homeroom class of fifth graders and their families. Figure
1 describes the TFP Community Participation Program, for all community members, and the
TFP Education Curriculum Program, for the fifth graders and their families. The continuityof the program's effect was verified by a survey detailed in Section 4. The survey was
conducted 1 year after program implementation. The TFP procedure for 2000 is outlined
below.

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program(2) TFP Procedure
TFP in 2000 was conducted under two programs: the Community Program and the Education
Curriculum Program. Procedures for both programs consist of the four steps in Figure 1.
At the outset, the program coordinator used educational pamphlets to explain the purpose of
TFP: reduction of CO2 emissions by shifting anti-environmental travel behavior to
pro-environmental travel behavior. Each family member kept a 7-day activity-travel diary(Diary 1), which was in the form of a questionnaire. After collecting Diary 1, we madediagnostic checklists to feed back the survey results to each participant's household. The
diagnostic checklists consist of analysis results of the participant’s activity-travel logs andcomments on those logs from the viewpoint of reducing CO2 emission. The Diary-2 survey
followed, and we made final diagnostic checklists that compared Diary 1 and Diary 2 toanalyze their difference. The feedback given to participants could be regarded as persuasive
communication11) encouraging them to shift from car use to walking, cycling and public
transport.

Table 1.


(3) Kits for TFP
The kit developed for TFP in 2000 includes 1) an explanatory pamphlet, 2) diaries, 3)diagnostic checklists, and 4) the final diagnostic checklists.
1) Explanatory pamphlet
Psychological and behavioral strategies for behavioral modification need to start with an
explanation of the background, goals, and procedure, for effective prompting of behavior
change. Travel behavior change is not realized without the participants understanding the
program’s goals. We created a pamphlet that outlines the programs. In doing so, we tried
to ensure that participants would understand that the programs did not intend for participantsto cease all car use and that participants’ independence would be respected.
2) Diary
The diary consists of three parts: lists of family members and cars, a travel-activity diary, anda car-use diary. Each participant was requested to fill in the lists for family members andcars. Family members of elementary school age or older recorded travel activities each day.
The car-use diary was for recording the family’s daily car use.
3) Diagnostic checklists
The diagnostic checklists for feedback to the participant were the most crucial component of
TFP. The participant’s motivation for behavior change was assumed to differ greatly
depending on their activity-travel patterns. The diagnostic checklists, therefore, were madeto ensure that the participant would review his or her activity-travel patterns from theviewpoint of CO2 emissions, and to provide information on travel alternatives to car use. In
the checklists, the 7-day activity-travel patterns were graphically presented as a diagram, tofacilitate the participant’s understanding (Figure 2), and comments including proposals
resulting from evaluation of the participant’s activity-travel patterns were made. The
comments were systematically drafted under a system established by the authors6). To
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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Programfacilitate quantitative comparison between the results of one participant and those of others,
the participant’s frequency and duration of transportation use by mode were placed next to
the group averages for these. In addition to the diagnostic checklists, materials including
information on public transport discounts in Sapporo, bus route maps and timetables werehanded out.

Figure 2
In the comments, praise for the subject's travel behavior came first and proposals followed.
This was because it was thought that participants would be more receptive to comments that
did not seek to ban their travel behaviors, including car use. Praise was expected to induce
intrinsic motivation that would result in the participant’s pro-environmental behavior.
Examples of praise follow.
Example 1 (praise for subjects who routinely used public transport): Your travel behavior
is ideal and helps reduce air pollution and traffic congestion. You usually use public
transport. Please continue doing so. Please find the enclosed information on fee
discounts for public transport. We hope it will be useful to you.
Example 2 (praise for subjects who routinely used Kiss & Ride): You are greatly
contributing to the reduction of air pollution and traffic congestion by practicing Kiss &Ride. On day X you were driven to the nearby station by family member X on thefamily member list, where you transferred to public transport to your destination. Your
travel behavior is excellent.
Example 3 (comments for subjects who commuted by car almost every day neither atvery early hours nor at late hours. You might consider using public transport once aweek on a sunny day.
On day X you did not use a car on business except to commute.
If small behavior changes of individuals prevail in the city, it will reduce air pollution.
Also, walking is healthy.
Example 4 (comments for subjects who made frequent short (shorter than 10 minuteseach) car trips except for commuting): On day X you made X short car trips. On asunny day, you could replace these with cycling or walking. A 10-minute walkconsumes 48 kcal (equivalent to two mandarin oranges) and can improve your heath.
Example 5 (comments for subjects who made frequent car trips that took 10 minutes ormore each): Please find the enclosed route maps for regularly scheduled buses. There
will be bus routes that conveniently connect your home and workplace. Unlike stressful
driving, the bus ride may provide you with an opportunity to relax and see new thingsfrom the window. You might want to give it a try.
Example 6 (comments for subjects who were driven routinely to work or school):
Person X drove you to work every day. When you do not have many things to carry,5

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

you could get a ride to the nearest station where you could transfer to public transport.
Such commuting will reduce CO2 emissions and might make a nice change.
4) Final diagnostic checklists
The final diagnostic checklists were made to enable the participants to identify their travel
behavior change by comparing Diary 1 and Diary 2. CO2 emissions in the Diary-1 survey
and Diary-2 survey were graphed by travel mode to facilitate the participant's visual
understanding.
(4) Subject groups
TFP in 2000 was conducted in three groups: a) residents of the Sanae district of Ebetsu City,b) residents of the Aino-sato district, and c) fifth-graders of Homeroom Class 1 at theelementary school associated with the Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo. The
groups and their collection rates of the survey and diary are outlined below (Table 2).
a) Residents of the Sanae district of Ebetsu City
Ebetsu City adjoins Sapporo to the east. The Sanae district is a flat residential
district from which many people commute to Sapporo. There is a railway station in
Ebetsu, and the bus system from the railway station is relatively well developed. In
the Sanae district, there are few bus routes , so car use is frequent.
b) Residents of the Aino-sato district
The Aino-sato district is in northern Sapporo. It is a rather new, flat residential
district. In the area there is the Aino-sato University of Education Railway Stationon the Sassho Line. Buses on several routes including those bound for downtown
Sapporo and for subway stations in the suburbs of Sapporo are available from thestation.
c) Fifth-graders in Homeroom Class 1 at the elementary school associated with the
Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo
The elementary school stands in Aino-sato; however, students live throughout
Sapporo and its environs because it is the only national elementary school in Sapporo
and its students are not limited to the local school district. Students are not allowed
to be driven to or from the school. In principle, the students commute by public
transport.

Table 2

2. Short-term effects of TFP(1) TFP’s effectiveness for TDM
An index that most directly represents the effectiveness of TDM is the share change oftransportation mode. The share for family car decreased by about 5%. That for public bus
and railway became 15%, a 4% increase. CO2 emissions yielded by travel behaviors as the6

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

environmental load fell by 16.3% as the whole13). The amount of CO2 emissions wascalculated by multiplying unit emissions for that mode by trip time. Such calculations show
TFP’s effectiveness in TDM. In the share for each travel behavior, a large decrease wasobserved in private trips made by family car to give a ride or run errands.
(2) TFP’s effectiveness in travel and environmental education
At the end of the program, great improvement was observed in the participants’ awareness of
their travel behavior. The awareness change was indicated by the student and their parents’comments given at a class or in the diary (Figure 3). They described their significant
awareness change after receiving the diagnostic checklists and being told about TDM. This
may support TFP’s effectiveness.

Figure 3
3. Survey on persistence of TFP effects
TFP effects immediately after its implementation were explained in Section 2. To verify
the persistence of these effects, a survey was conducted in 2001, one year after its
implementation.
(1) Framework of the analysis
To analyze the continued psychological and behavioral effects of TFP, Norm Activation
Theory was applied. Norm Activation Theory is used to describe psychological process of
supportive or altruistic behaviors, such as rescuing a person who has fallen or is drowning.
This type of behavior is characterized by significantly benefiting the party other than the
behaver. Behaviors of desisting from car use, which are motivated by environmental
concern, might benefit other community members by reducing environmentally harmful CO2
emissions. Therefore, behaviors of desisting from car use resulting from TFP are expected
to be theoretically described by Norm Activation Theory.
According to Norm Activation Theory, activation of the moral obligation to refrain from car
use induces behavioral modification. "Moral obligation" refers to the behaver’s intention oftrying to bring his action into conformity with social norms of good and bad. To activate
moral obligation, awareness of seriousness of the problem (e.g., car use is a major cause ofenvironmental problems) is necessary. Such awareness is generally called "awareness ofconsequences."
Figure 4 shows the psychological process leading to behavioral
modification. Activation of the awareness of consequences further activates the moral
obligation followed by behavioral intention which triggers actual behavior change.

Figure 4

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback ProgramThis study considered that behavior change was induced by TFP’s effect on psychologicalprocesses as explained by Norm Activation Theory. Among the multiple psychologicalfactors (awareness of consequences, moral obligation and pro-environmental behavior), we
investigated which one was affected by TFP. Further, attitude theory suggests “habit” as animportant psychological hindrance to behavioral modification15), 16), 17). In addition to
examining TFP effects, we analyzed how habit persistence affected the behavioral
modification process (Figure 2).
(2) Subjects
Residents of the Aino-sato district and the elementary school students, two of the threesubject groups for TFP in 2000, were surveyed one year later to verify the persistence of TFP
effects. The subjects included both previously participating households (the TFP group) and
newly participating households (the control group).
(3) Procedure
The survey was conducted from December 2001 to January 2002. Elementary students
received the questionnaire at school and handed it out to their parents. The questionnaire
was collected by post in an envelope distributed in advance with the questionnaire In
Aino-sato, both distribution and collection of the questionnaire for the TFP group was by post.
For the control group around the households of the TFP group, the questionnaires weredelivered by the surveyors and collected by post. Table 3 shows the survey collection rate.
In each group, 50 to 80 samples were collected. The collection rate was higher for the TFP
group than for the control group. This was probably because previous participants weremore interested in the survey than were new participants.

Table 3

(4) Survey items
In the survey, psychological factors were those hypothesized by Norm Activation Theory, thatis awareness of consequence with respect to automobile use, moral obligation to refrain fromautomobile use, behavioral intention to refrain from automobile, and behavioral indexes forrefraining from automobile use. Table 4 lists the questions used in the questionnaire, andexamples of questions are shown in Figure 5. Questions used for measuring psychologicalfactors hypothesized by norm activation theory, i.e., awareness of consequence, moral
obligation, and behavioral intention for pro-environmental travel behaviors, were developedin the current study by referring to questions used in Garling, et al.9)
Table 4

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Figure 5

4. Results of the survey to verify the TFP effect continuity(1) Reliability of the indexes
Reliability of the psychological factors was indicated by Cronback’s α coefficient 18) (astatistical value indicating how accurately multiple indexes measure a psychological factor).
Cronback’s α coefficients for individual psychological factors are shown in Table 5. In thisstudy, each value of Cronback’s α coefficient of the psychological factor reaches a reliablelevel. Therefore, the average score of answers to the multiple questions corresponds to theindividual psychological factors excluding pro-environmental travel behavior.

Table 5
(2) Comparison of means of psychological factors between groups
The means and standard deviations for each psychological factor of households in Aino-sato
and those of the elementary schoolers are shown in Table 6. The households included bothpreviously participating ones, TFP group, and newly participating ones, the control group.
The larger was the score (except for "habit"), the more pro-environmentally the subjects
behaved. As for "habit," the larger was the value, the more habitually did the subjects use
the car. On the whole, there were significant differences in the scores for pro-environmental
behavior between TFP group and control group. In the results for the elementary school, alarge difference was seen between scores for behavioral intention and pro-environmental
behavior. In Aino-sato, the scores of newly participating households were high forawareness of consequences and for moral obligation. Table 7 shows p values of one-way
analyses of variance (ANOVA) for TFP vs. control of measured psychological factors.

Table 6


Table 7

On the whole, there was a 1% difference between TFP group and control group for
pro-environmental behavior. This indicates that the previously participating households
were more pro-environment than the newly participating ones. According to ANOVAs for9

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Aino-Sato and for the elementary school, although there was a difference at a 1 % significant
level between groups for pro-environmental behavior in elementary school, there was no
significant difference in Aino-Sato. As for the scores for awareness of consequences, moral
obligation, behavioral modification, and habit, there was no significant difference between
TFP group and control group overall or within households in Aino-Sato and the elementary
school.
(3) Hypothetical tests
To examine how TFP acted the subjects’ psychological processes to induce them to takepro-environmental behavior, samples of the Aino-sato group and of the elementary school
were analyzed using Norm Activation Theory. For the analysis, whether Norm Activation
Theory could be applied to a model of behavioral modification was examined by a set ofregression analyses. Which phase of the psychological process supposed by the Norm
Activation Theory, TFP would affect was examined in the same way. The effects of habitualcar use also was analyzed. The results are listed in Table 8 and diagramed in Figure 6.

Table 8

Figure 6
The table shows that there was a statistically significant positive effect of moral obligation on
behavioral intention, and of behavioral intention on pro-environmental behavior. It is also
shown that awareness of consequences has a marginally significant positive effect on moral
obligation. These results supported the hypotheses that pro-environmental travel behavior
resulted from the psychological process stated in Norm Activation Theory.
Although Norm Activation Theory has assumed that only behavioral intention influences
pro-environmental behavior, it has been indicated that moral obligation and awareness ofconsequences also directly influence it.
It was also indicated that awareness ofconsequences influenced behavioral intention directly (Figure 6.). Further, significantly
negative influence of habitual car use not only on pro-environmental behavior but also on
behavioral intention was proved.
The table indicates that TFP did not influence moral obligation, awareness of consequences,or behavioral intention. However, it is shown that TFP had a significant positive influenceon pro-environmental behavior.
Since the variable used in the analysis as
pro-environmental behavior was obtained from the survey conducted one year after the
implementation of TFP, this result suggests that TFP continues to promote pro-environmental
travel behavior even one year after implementation.
5. Conclusion
This study explained the procedure of TFP, a psychological and behavioral strategy for10

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TDM, and verified its effects immediately after implementation. The persistence of TFP
effects was surveyed one year after implementation under the framework of Norm Activation
Theory.
According to one-way ANOVA (TFP group vs. control group) of each psychological factor(Table 7), and the set of regression analyses of the psychological processes toward
pro-environmental travel behavior (Table 8), it was statistically shown that TFP induced
pro-environmental behavior even one year after implementation. Previous studies had
proved that TFP triggers temporary behavioral modification. This study verified thepersistence of TFP effect and suggested that TFP may be useful as a measure of TDM aiming
at restraining car use.
However, the results of the set of regression analysis in Table 8 indicated that TFP did not
significantly influence other pro-environmental factors, including moral obligation andawareness of consequences. Although the reason was not clear, it may be possible tointerpret the results as showing that the participant’s environmental awareness was highbefore the survey but lack of suitable information hindered this from manifesting as
pro-environmental behavior. TFP might have provided the lacking information, thereby
leading to pro-environmental behavior.
As hypothesized, the set of regression analyses proved that pro-environmental behavior could
be described by using Norm Activation Theory. The results of this study suggest that to
induce pro-environmental behavior, structural strategies activating egoistic motivation may
not be sufficient, and psychological measures that work on awareness of negative
consequences of anti-environmental behavior or moral obligation to desist fromanti-environmental behavior may be necessary.
The results of the set of regression analyses in Table 8 identified significant negative
influences of habitual car use both on behavioral intention and on pro-environmental travel
behavior. This implies that people who heavily use car tend to be less restrained in car use.
As other studies have pointed out15), 16), 17), the strength of habitual behavior needs to beconsidered when measures for behavioral modification are implemented. Since this study
shows that TFP has a positive effect on pro-environmental travel behavior, TFP may be a way
to break the habit1) of car use.
Although further research is called for, including further psychological analyses investigating
TFP’s effects that consider individuals’ socioeconomic attributes and psychologicalpredispositions, and the development of a simpler automated program that is applicable inmany places and of educational kits, this study suggests that TFP may be used as a practical
TDM measure for behavioral modification from anti-environmental travel behavior, e.g., caruse, to pro-environmental travel behavior, e.g., public transport use.

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program3) Ampt, E., Rooney, A. (1999) Reducing the Impact of the Car – A Sustainable Approach
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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback ProgramC om m unity program

Educationalcurricula
program
The first lecture

D iary 1 (the first 7-day travelactivity log)
The second
lectureD istribution of the diagnostic checklists

D iary 2 (the second 7-day travelactivity log)
The third lecture
D istribution of the finaldiagnostic checklists

V erification of TFP
effects

S urvey to verify TFP effect persistence

C om parison of psychologicalfactors and behavior betw een
TFP -participating-households (TFP group) and non-TFP -participatinghouseholds (controlgroup).

Figure 1.

Flow of the TFP procedure implemented in Sapporo

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Table 1. Procedure of TFP implemented in Sapporo

Step

Item

Material

Feedback
7-day diary survey
Feedback

Diagnostic checklists
Diary 2
Final diagnostic checklists
7-day diary survey
Diary 11
2
3

4


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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Program for Considering Wise Use of Cars

Your household's
survey number

Diagnostic checklist 1

Your survey
numberThank you for your participation in this program.
Your 7-day traffic activities are summarized. Please look at the results.

①Monday, Sep. 11
Home②Tuesday, Sep. 12

１

Workplace２⑤Friday, Sep. 15
Home1⑥Saturday, Sep. 16

Neighborhood

Home

2
Supermarket

8

Home

3

Gas
station１２

１
２

Workplace③Wednesday, Sep. 13
１
Home

２

Workplace⑦Sunday, Sep. 17

6

Parents'
home

5

Home

２

(Average values of your 365
neighbors)(times)(minutes)．
･･････････ 14 66．
････････ 4 40
00c．Motorcycling･････
10d．Taking a taxi･･････････ 1･････ 1 11
e．Riding the bus
f．Riding the streetcar ･････････
g．Riding JR････････
7
207
110
h．Riding the subway･･ 7
i．Taking a truck ･･･････････
j．Driving the･･････
12
250
family car
k．Riding in the family car ････
l．Driving another car ･･･････
m．Riding in another car ･･････
n．Other ･･･････････････････(times) (minutes)

スポーツ
店

Home

Hospital

7● Your diagnostic results
Thank you for your cooperation in recording the time in diary 1. We would like to ask a favor regarding your traffic
behavior. To reduce congestion and air pollution as much as possible, please try some of these measures: trip
consolidation (do more than one errand per trip), park-and-ride (transfer to inbound public transportation after driving tothe outskirts of the urban district), carpool. For more information, please refer to the enclosed glossary.
You are now conducting traffic behavior that helps reduce air pollution and congestion in the city. You usually commute
to work by public transportation. Please continue using public transportation in the future.
Your walking time was 66 minutes. A 10-minute walk consumes 48 kcal (equivalent to two mandarin oranges), so you
can see that walking is effective in controlling one's weight and improving one's health. Please stay in the habit ofwalking in your daily life after the survey.

a Walking

8.3

b Cycling

4.9

16.1

6.0

119.8

1.9

31.1

2.5

65.9

Total time you spent
traveling for 7 days:

Figure 2.

WorkplaceYour 7-day traffic activities

4Bar④Thursday, Sep. 14
１： 1001： 1：694

minutes

2.0

65.0

6.4

189.2

4.3

48.6

10.6

960.7

12.2

315.1

5.1

120.7

8.4

538.7

2.3

91.2

2.1

124.7

(Average: 533.2 minutes)

Example of diagnostic checklists

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Table 2.

Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Response rate of diary survey in TFP in 2000


RecipientsCollected diaries
Response
Diary
individuals (households)
individuals (households) rate of individuals
Sanae, Ebetsu
1
496 (155)
365 (149)
2365 (149)
352 (142)
71.0%
Aino-sato

1
2

147
124

( 44)
( 41)

124 ( 41)120 ( 40)

81.6%

Elementary school1
154 ( 41)142 ( 39)2
142 ( 39)127 ( 37)82.5%


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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Change of students' trafficawareness
2000
Early Sept.

The first lecture(explanation of the program's
significance and procedure)

Diary 1Mid Sept.

The second lecture
Early Nov.

(distribution of the diagnostic checklists
and explanation of specific actions to
reduce CO2 emissions)

Mid Nov.

Diary 2

Mid Dec.

(distribution of final diagnostic
checklists, and consideration andpresention of ways to restrain caruse)

The third lecture

Figure 3.

Students had basic knowledge of trafficand environmental problems, but they had
no idea how to take action.

They understood the relation between car
use and environmental problems andtraffic congestion, and began hoping for
reduction of CO2 emissions, but they had
no idea of how to reduce CO2 emissions.

By referring to ways of avoiding car use,
they could specify goals for their traffic
activities.

Their consideration of individual travel
behavior changes expanded to measures tochange social travel behavior and tocontinue the travel behavior changes.

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Awareness ofconsequences

Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback ProgramMoral
obligation

Behavioral intention for proenvironmental travel behavior

Habit

Pro-environmental
travel behavior

Participation
in TFP

Figure 4. Hypothesis of psychological process of behavioral modification to
pro-environmental behavior (i.e., restraining car use) on the basis of Norm Activation Theory
and the hypothesis concerning TFP effects on this process.

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Table 3. Number of recipients, number of respondents, and response rate in survey forinvestigation of TFP effect persistence in 2001

Recipientshouseholds individuals

individuals
respondents

response rate
Elementary school
TFP group
37
127
78
61.4%

Aino-Sato

control group

40

160

53

33.1%

TFP group

40

120

61

50.8%

150
450
80
17.8%
control group

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Table 4. Questions to measure the participant’s psychological factors and the endpoints ofmeasures' scales
Index

awareness ofconsequences

NO.

Question

Scale antipodes(1)

Do you think car use contributes to environmental pollution?

No / Yes(2)

Do you think car use contributes to global environmental problems?

No / Yes(1)

How do you evaluate car use in terms of morality?

Morally
unproblematic/
morally problematic(2)

Do you think cars should be used frequently?

No / Yes(1)

Do you sometimes think about refraining from using a car?

No / Yes(2)

Do you sometimes think to stop completely using a car?

No / Yes(1)

Do you think your traffic behavior is sometimes pro-environmental?

No / Yes

moral obligation
behavioral intention
forpro-environmental
travel behaviors
pro-environmental
travel behavior

habit

－

Note: As the score for “habit”,

Which transportation do you use
to visit a friend?
to shop for clothes?
to go to the movies?
to go for lunch?
to go back home?
Family car, Railway,
to go out for dinner?
Subway, Streetcar, Bus,
Bicycle, Walking,to go for a picnic barbecue?
Motorcycle, Other
to go swimming?
to go skiing?
to commute to work or school?
to go to the hospital?
to go to the convenience store?
to go to the bookstore?
out of the answers to the 13 questions, only those who chose “car” were counted.

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Do you think car use contributes to environmental
pollution?
No

Don't know

Yes□□□□□□□
Do you think your traffic behavior is sometimes
pro-environmental?
No
Don't know
Yes□□□□□□□
Figure 5. Examples of 7-points scales to measure psychological factors

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

Table 5. Reliability indexes of sets of measures for psychological factors

Index
Cronback’s α
Awareness of consequences
0.86
Moral obligation
0.65
Behavioral intention
0.68
Pro-environmental behavior
Habit
0.84


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Table 6. Mean (M) and standard deviation (STD) for each psychological factor

TFP group

Overall
control group

Elementary school
TFP group
control groupAino-Sato
TFP group
control group

M (STD)

M (STD)

M (STD)

M (STD)

M (STD)

M (STD)

Awareness of consequence

5.83 (1.12)

5.97 (124)

5.75 (1.37)

5.72 (1.65)

5.93 (1.33)

6.14 (1.13)

Moral obligation

4.32 (1.02)

4.19 (1.14)

3.04 (1.18)

2.99 (1.14)

2.97 (1.09)

3.01 (1.20)

Behavioral intention
to decrease car use

4.15 (1.61)

3.86 (1.68)

4.09 (1.67)

3.62 (1.62)

4.24 (1.55)

4.02 (1.71)

Proenvironmental
traffc activity

5.17 (1.57)

4.55 (1.72)

5.18 (1.35)

4.33 (1.28)

5.16 (1.51)

4.71 (1.38)

Habit

8.01 (3.25)

8.48 (3.46)

8.39 (3.16)

8.92 (2.97)

7.51 (3.32)

8.18 (3.75)





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Table 7. p values for one-way analysis of variance (TFP group vs. control group) of psychologicalfactors hypothesized in Norm Activation Theory and habit
OverallElementary School
Aino-S ato
Awareness of consequences
0.388
0.901
0.307
Moral obligation
0.327
0.819
0.670
Behavioral intention
0.143
0.114
0.439
0.004***
0.110
Pro-environmental travel behavior
0.002***
Habit
0.245
0.328
0.273

* p<.05, ** p<.01 , ***p<.001

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Table 8. Estimation results of a set of regression analysis


Pro-environmental
Behavioral intention
Moral
travel Behavior
obligation
b (t)
b (t)
b (t)

***Behavioral intention
0.23 (3.84)
Moral obligation
0.16 (2.74) ***0.22 (3.67) ****0.19 (3.21) ***0.10 (1.66)*
Awareness of consequences 0.11 (1.93)

Participation in TFP
0.15 (2.69) ***0.06 (1.10)
0.04(0.64)-0.12 (-2.09) **0.07(1.05)
Habit-0.20 (-3.51) ***
R2
.23
.12
.02
sample size
263
263
264

b: Standardized coefficients(t): t-statistics* p < .10, ** p < .05 *** p < .001

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Psychological Effects of Travel Feedback Program

+
+
+

+
Awareness ofconsequences+

Moral obligation+

Behavioral intention for proenvironmental travel behavior-

Pro-environmental
travel behavior+

Significant causal relation
Marginally significant causal relation(+,- : signs of coefficients)

Habit

Participation
in TFP

Figure 6. Causal relations indicated by regression analyses

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